A/N: This chapter is longer than the first one, though, if I'm to take a guess, it will be about average for the next chapters in this, so look forward to that.

It's kinda weird though because lately I've been reading fanfiction with Hartley and James, and yet here I am writing about Hartley and Axel in much the same way. I just find it interesting.


The rain only got worse as the night wore on. By the time Hartley, who was very much a night owl, went to bed the rain had become a full thunderstorm. Hartley didn't mind it though. In fact, he actually loved thunderstorms, though it wasn't always that way.

Hartley had memories from when he was very young and while he never feared the storms, he did hate them. Especially the really bad ones. Back then, Hartley could see the rain falling to the earth, and he could see the lightning strike the sky. And, occasionally during particularly bad storms he could feel the vibrations from the earth caused by the rolling of the thunder.

But he couldn't hear anything.

Hartley had been born deaf. It was only thanks to hearing implants he had received at a later age was he even able to hear anything at all to this day. Back then though, he couldn't hear a sound, and it was sometimes frustrating and upsetting to him. Especially when he knew that he should be hearing something. Such as during a thunderstorm.

After Hartley got his hearing implants he was suddenly able to hear sound, and it had felt like a whole new world had been opened to him. Hartley had become absolutely obsessed with all forms of sound (Except needless talking. If a person has something to say, just say it and stop wasting everybody's time).

Even though Hartley used to hate storms when he was younger, he absolutely loved them now. He could just sit in the dark for hours and let the sound of the gentle rain and rolling thunder lull him to sleep. The only thing he didn't like about storms was what happened the morning after.

Hartley would always wake up later than he usually did, which he absolutely hated. As if that wasn't bad enough, he would always wake up feeling sore and stiff after a thunderstorm. He didn't know why it happened, or how, which just irked him even more. Over the years Hartley had come to realize that going out for a walk usually did wonders for the stiffness.

So when Hartley woke up feeling stiff like he usually did after a storm he grumbled a bit but still pulled on his favorite dark green hoodie and headed outside to stretch his muscles. The skies were still overcast and there was a definite chill in the air, but at least it wasn't raining anymore. For that, he was grateful.

Hartley reached into his hoodie pocket and took out the earbuds he kept in there. He put them in his ears, plugged it into his phone. Hartley took a minute to choose a soundtrack to listen to. He selected his decision and went on his way as he let the sound of the music wash over him.

Hartley immediately made his way to the park, like he always did on these walks. Being in the park instead of in the city meant that he didn't have to deal with as many idiotic people who were in an even worse mood than usual because of the gloominess of the weather. And it was safer to let himself get distracted by his music in the park rather than on the streets, where he would likely just end up getting mugged.

Besides, it was much more peaceful and quiet in the park, definitely not nearly as chaotic or crowded as the city streets were. He wasn't the only one who thought so either. Hartley saw a number of joggers and other walkers as he strolled. They were probably the people who didn't like getting up at the crack of dawn to exercise, but didn't want to deal with the heat of the day either. For people like them, post storm weather was absolutely perfect for light exercise.

...And then there were the crazies who seemed to lose all sense of dignity and self restraint, like that weirdo over there.

Hartley stopped in his tracks on the path and stared at the young adult who was running through the wet grass, shoes in his hands, and laughing insanely. Hartley watched him for a few moments before realizing that he recognized that dark hair and studded leather jacket. Grinning to himself Hartley stepped off the path and walked toward the energetic young man.

"Do you just have a thing against being dry or something?" Hartley called out, his tone half teasing and half scolding. Axel turned and looked shocked to see Hartley there, but that surprise quickly turned to joy.

"Hey, it's you." Axel beamed and waved at him. Hartley chuckled and gave a small wave in return.

"It's me." Hartley put his hands in his pockets and turned down his music. Usually whenever he listened to music at all, whether when he was out or at home, he had it turned up really loud so he could just get lost in the music and effectively ignore the world around him. At the moment though Hartley didn't want to drown out the world, and even if he did he doubted that Axel would have let him.

Axel just struck Hartley as the type of person who drew attention to himself, though he couldn't tell if it was on purpose or not. All Hartley knew was that when Axel was around, it was nearly impossible to not give him attention, so why bother trying?

"You do know that those are supposed to go on your feet, right?" Hartley nodded at the shoes in Axel's hands. Axel looked at the shoes curiously before shrugging and tossing them on the ground.

"But it feels better like this." Axel said. "The ground is so squishy."

"Squishy?" Hartley raised a judgemental eyebrow.

"What? Would it be better if I said that wet grass feels so semisolid?" Axel wrinkled his nose and Hartley couldn't help but chuckle.

"No, by all means, call it squishy." Hartley gestured with his hand for Axel to continue with what he was doing. Axel's word of choice may be somewhat infantile, but honestly, so was his behavior, so it worked.

"So, what are you doing out here? You know, other than trying to get a cold." Hartley asked.

"Uh, getting my feet wet." Axel said as if it were a stupid question. He raised his wet and muddy foot for Hartley to see for himself. "What about you? I thought you didn't like rain."

"I like rain just fine, I just don't like being wet." Hartley said, his nose turned ever so slightly into the air. "And, in case you hadn't noticed, it's not raining. I'm just out for a walk."

"It's pretty cool that we just happened to run into each other again." Axel said. He eyed Hartley. "You're not stalking me or anything, are you?"

"Of course not." Hartley huffed. "Even if I had wanted to, your disappearing act last night would have made it impossible, since it's impossible to stalk someone if you don't know where they went in the first place." Hartley's tone was more bitter than he meant it to be, but he was pretty ticked with Axel. Honestly, what sort of person just ran off without the least bit of a warning?

Axel's smile dropped from his face and was replaced by a sorrow filled look instead. Just seeing that look on Axel's face made Hartley feel guilty about his words. Before he could even begin to apologize though Axel's grown quickly turned into a sheepish grin.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Axel rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled nervously. "I just...I needed to get out of there."

"It's fine." Hartley assured him, because honestly, it wasn't that big of a deal. "How about a bit more of a warning next time though?"

"Okay." Axel nodded in agreement, a bit more of that joyful light came back to his eyes. "Hey, you wanna go swing?" Without even waiting for a response Axel raced off toward the nearby empty playground. Hartley sighed and followed after him, though not before pausing to pick up the pair of shoes that Axel had tossed aside and probably forgotten about. Hartley was curious about how long it would take Axel to realize that he didn't have his shoes.

More than that though, Hartley was curious about just what Axel was hiding. Yes, the younger man did seem genuinely excited about playing on the swings, but at the same time Hartley was under the impression that Axel had merely suggested it as a change of subject, to avoid talking about...whatever he didn't want to talk about.

Whatever Axel was hiding though, Hartley wouldn't pry about it. Whatever it was, it was none of his business, it was Axel's. Besides, Hartley had a couple of secrets of his own. Maybe one day the two of them would trust each other enough to share their secrets, but considering the fact that they had only met the night before, it was only to be expected that that day wasn't today.

By the time Hartley arrived at the swingset Axel had already claimed one and had started swinging, looking impatient.

"You took forever." Axel whined with a pout.

"Forgive me for not having an endless supply of energy like you." Hartley said half jokingly. He set aside Axel's shoes and sat on the wet swing next to Axel's. Hartley would have been completely content with just sitting on the swing and chatting, but Axel had other plans. Kicking his legs back and forth Axel began to swing higher and higher.

"You look like you're ready to fly." Hartley remarked a minute later, and it wasn't just because of the height he was gaining either. The expression on Axel's face when he reached the peak of his swing was one of total elation.

"I am." Axel grinned and, right at the point of his next swing when he was at his highest Axel let go of the swing's chains and pushed himself forward. For a brief moment Axel's momentum from the swing sent him upward, but then gravity took control and he fell toward the ground. He didn't crash or hurt himself like Hartley had been afraid he would. In fact, Axel landed on his feet with far more grace than anybody else Hartley had seen jumping off a swing.

"You're quite an acrobat." Hartley remarked. Axel turned around and grinned at him.

"I guess it's in my blood or something." Axel returned to his swing and began kicking his legs back and forth, which moved the swing a little, but since he was kicking out of rhythm with the swing it didn't move a lot.

"Do you have a relative that's an acrobat?" Hartley asked.

"Uh, kinda." Axel said unsurely, his grin quickly disappearing into a frown. He dug his feet into the ground to stop the movement of his swing. "My dad, he, uh...my mom said that he used to be an an acrobat at the circus, but that was before he…changed" Axel trailed off, a dark look came over his eyes that started Hartley a bit.

"Changed how?" Hartley asked. Axel shook his head.

"It doesn't matter." He said, though clearly it did matter to Axel, a lot. "I don't even know if he changed at all. Maybe the man that he is today is just the man that he always has been." Axel's fists clenched over the swing's chains.

"So, you have daddy issues." Hartley noted. He hesitated slightly before continuing. "Do you want to talk about it?" Not that Hartley was all that interested in hearing somebody else complain about their problems, but from experience Hartley knew that it would help. It wasn't good to keep bitter feelings inside and just let them build up.

"What's there to talk about?" Axel scowled. "He's a big jerk, and I can't believe I ever looked up to him." Axel scoffed and glared up at the sky. "You know, I had known him for years before finally finding out that he was actually my dad. I had been so happy at first. He said that he needed me. That he wanted me. He didn't. He just wanted to use me."

"I'm sorry." Hartley said awkwardly. "My parents weren't exactly the best parents either."

"Really?" Axel asked quietly.

"They always hold impossible expectations for me." Hartley said, the old resentment towards his parents building up again. "It was always annoying to deal with when I was younger, to never quite be good enough for them. Things didn't get really bad until they learned about my sexual preference."

Axel winced. "What did they do?"

"They disowned me." Hartley said matter of factly. Axel's eyes widened.

"Whoa, seriously?" Axel looked shocked.

"Yes." Hartley growled. He took a deep breath and calmed his anger. "It's fine now though."

"Really?" Axel raised an eyebrow. "So they're magically okay with you being gay?"

"Of course not." Hartley scoffed at the idea. "They're in complete denial that I like guys, but at least they're willing to talk to me again, just so long as I don't mention my love life to them." And that had only happened with Cisco's help (not that Hartley would ever admit it though).

"That sounds stupid." Axel frowned.

"It is." Hartley agreed. "But at least it's a step in the right direction. What about you? You mentioned your mother before."

"My mom?" Axel rolled his eyes and actually laughed. "She never liked me very much. She thought I was too much like my dad. Meanwhile my dad doesn't think I'm enough like him. No, I don't know my mom much better than I know my dad. She raised me for a few years, then just left one day. I grew up getting thrown from one foster home to another, because nobody liked me."

"I don't think that's it." Hartley cut in. Axel looked at him curiously. "It's not like nobody liked you, it was that they didn't know how to deal with you."

"...What?" Axel tilted his head curiously.

"You have a different type of personality." Hartley explained. "As unfair as it is, people don't really understand things or people that are different, and they're either too lazy or don't care enough to actually try to understand."

Axel pouted and glared at the ground. "People are stupid." He grumbled.

"Yes, they are." Hartley muttered in agreement. "The point is, all of these failed relationships in your past aren't your fault. You're different. Special. Don't blame yourself just because other people can't see that that's a good thing."

Axel grinned and began kicking his legs again. Hartley breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he had successfully cheered up Axel, because an angry Axel was kind of scary. Besides, it was a bit unfair for somebody to go through life thinking that he wasn't good enough for anybody.

"Why aren't you swinging?" Axel asked completely out of the blue. Hartley looked at him curiously.

"What?"

"You know, swing, the thing that you're supposed to do on a, well, swing." Axel pushed his own swing back and forth to demonstrate. Hartley narrowed his eyes at him.

"Don't push your luck." Hartley warned. "You're lucky I agreed to sit on this juvenile thing at all, let alone play on it."

"They're supposed to be played on." Axel pointed out. "And you look even sillier if you're just sitting there not even using it." Huh. Hartley supposed that Axel did have a point there. And it wasn't as if there were many people around to judge them anyways.

"Come on," Axel whined. "Swing with me." Without giving Hartley a chance to respond, or even think, Axel took Hartley's hand, used his feet to push off, and started swinging again, this time dragging Hartley behind him. Disliking the feeling of being pulled around, and knowing very well that Axel wasn't going to let go of his hand any time soon, Hartley began kicking and leaning to keep the swing in motion. Soon he was swinging in sync with Axel.

"See? It's not that bad." Axel laughed as they swung higher and higher. Hartley soon found himself grinning too, finding Axel's joy contagious. It wasn't long before the two of them were as high as they could go, and Hartley had to admit, the wind from the movement of the swing did feel rather nice.

"Are you ready?" Axel asked mid swing. Hartley looked at him in confusion.

"For what?" Axel didn't answer. He tensed and adjusted his arms, putting himself into position. Too late, Hartley realized what he was about to do.

"Axel, wait!" Hartley called out, but by that time Axel had already launched himself from the swing into the air. Axel had still been holding Hartley's hand when he had jumped, so he had gotten dragged behind him.

As a result, neither of them had landed as gracefully as Axel had for his first jump. Pulled backward by Hartley's weight Axel ended up falling on his back rather than his feet. He was a little winded, but other than that, completely unharmed.

"Ugh." Axel groaned as he sat up. "That wasn't as fun as I thought it would be." The only response that he goat was a moan of pain that almost sounded like a whimper. Axel's eyes widened. He turned and was horrified to see Hartley lying on the ground clutching at his ankle, his face scrunched up in pain.

"Hartley!" Axel crawled over to his new friend. "Are you okay? What happened? Are you hurt?" He said this all very quickly, a remorseful look on his face. "This is my fault. I'm so, so sorry."

"Apologies aren't doing me any good right now." Hartley growled. Axel bit his lip.

"I...sorry." Axel muttered. He could tell that Hartley's ankle was already beginning to swell and it looked like it was swollen. "What happened?"

"What do you think happened?" Hartley spat angrily. "Your little stunt caught me off guard and I landed on my foot at an odd angle."

"I told you I was sorry." Axel said quietly. Hartley's angry glare softened slightly. He sighed in defeat.

"It's fine. It was just an accident." Hartley sat up and winced when he tried to move his ankle. "I don't think it's broken, which is good, but it still needs to be taken care of."

"With ice and bandages, right?" Axel asked, just to make sure.

"Yeah, wrapping it would probably be a good idea." Hartley confirmed. "Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that we won't find the things we need here."

"So we'll just have to go somewhere that does." Axel said plainly. He stood up and offered his hand out to help Hartley to his feet. Hartley got up unsteadily. He experimentally put some light pressure on his injured foot and hissed in pain.

"I don't think I'm going to be walking anywhere like this." Hartley winced.

"That's fine." Axel turned so his back was facing Hartley and bent his knees. "I can carry you."

"Seriously?" Hartley raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, seriously." Axel said. "Unless you have a better idea."

Unfortunately, he didn't. Hartley scowled, picked up Axel's shoes, which were thankfully in reach, and begrudgingly got on Axel's back. Hartley thanked the stars that there wasn't anybody around to witness his humiliation.

"Alright, where do you live?" Axel asked as he shifted Hartley a bit, making things more comfortable for the both of them. Hartley frowned but hesitantly gave up his address, because going home really would be the best option at the moment. Not only would they find any supplies that they would need there, but it also wasn't far. And, with his ankle incapacitated for the next while, Hartley figured that the sooner he got to his own home the better.

The walk back to Hartley's place took twice as long as it normally would've, but that was to be expected. It always took more effort to go anywhere when one was carrying additional weight. Now, Hartley was by no means fat, but he weighed enough to slow the progress significantly.

And yet, despite this, Axel didn't utter a word of complaint. In fact, he didn't speak a word at all as he carried Hartley down the streets, which confused the injured young man greatly. Axel didn't strike him as the type of person who stayed silent for long. He also didn't seem like the type of person who would ever take anything seriously.

And yet here he was, quietly focusing intently on the task at hand. Hartley was impressed, and pleasantly surprised, though he said nothing about it. The only times Hartley bothered to make any comment was to provide direction. Other than that, he left Axel to himself.

The last block or so was the hardest. Axel was practically trudging now and was obviously pushing himself to continue forward. Hartley could tell that he was tired, but Axel didn't mention needing a bring, so Hartley didn't bring it up.

Finally, after what felt like forever, they arrived at their destination. Hartley took the keys out of his pocket and handed them to Axel, who fumbled awkwardly with them for a bit, but did eventually manage to get the front door open.

"Ha. I knew I could do it." Axel said breathlessly and Hartley rolled his eyes. "So," Axel looked around the front room of Hartley's home. "Where do you want to do this? Is the couch okay, or would you rather be in bed?"

Hartley smirked at just how suggestive Axel's words sounded. "Moving a little quickly, aren't we? You could at least take me out to dinner first."

Axel snicked and unceremoniously dropped Hartley down on the couch, though he was courteous enough to be careful of Hartley's ankle. "I was talking about taking care of your foot." Axel laughed and Hartley smirked.

"I know." Hartley informed him. He was well aware that he should stay off his ankle, so wherever they treated it should be someplace that he would be comfortable at for hours at a time. Thus, either the couch or his bed. The way that Axel had phrased it though, Hartley just couldn't resist. "I was just messing with you."

"So you do have a sense of humor. I was beginning to wonder about that." Axel joked.

"Of course I have a sense of humor. Most people just don't appreciate it." Hartley shrugged. "Now, are we going to actually take care of my ankle, or are we just going to sit around and talk about it?"

"Right." Axel looked flustered and glanced around Hartley's home. "Uh, where is-"

"There's an ice pack in the freezer." Hartley nodded toward the kitchen. "And I keep a roll of bandages underneath the bathroom sink, down that hallway, second door to the left." Axel nodded and went to go retrieve the items. While he was gone Hartley adjusted his position so his ankle was resting comfortably on a cushion, elevated, as it should be.

Axel returned a few moments later and quietly began working on Hartley's ankle. He seemed to know what he was doing, which Hartley supposed was to be expected. Axel was an energetic person, and probably careless at times. Hartley wouldn't be surprised to learn that Axel got injured on a regular base because of his carelessness. And, according to Axel, he never really had anybody else to care for him, so he had learned how to take care of himself.

Hartley flinched and grimaced when Axel accidently moved his ankle in a way to make it flare painfully. Axel winced sympathetically. "I'm sorry." He muttered as he continued wrapping up Hartley's foot. "I'm almost done here." A moment later Axel finished and pinned the bandage in place. Hartley rolled his foot slightly and was pleased with how much less it hurt. Putting the ice pack on it helped even more.

"Not bad." Hartley looked at Axel, who was now sitting cross legged on the floor, and smirked slightly. "This is the second time that you've saved me. And here I always thought that my knight in shining armor would be blond."

Axel tilted his head, confused. "All I did was let you borrow my umbrella and help with your injury that I caused in the first place. I wouldn't call that saving you."

"In the society that we live in today, I would." Hartley sighed and leaned back against the armrest of the couch.

"Oh." Axel contemplated Hartley's words for a minute before shaking his head and grinning. "So...do you want to watch a movie?"

"...What?" Now Hartley was the one who was confused.

"You know, a movie." Axel gestured to the tv behind him. "I mean, you're hurt and probably shouldn't move around much for a while, but you'll probably end up getting bored if you sit around doing nothing for too long, so why not watch a movie?"

Ah. Axel did have a point there. Watching a movie did sound pretty nice at the moment. Now he just had to decide what to watch. Axel was apparently one step ahead of him and was already browsing Hartley's dvd collection. He didn't own many movies, so it didn't take Axel very long to find a pattern in there.

"All of these are musicals." Axel remarked. He turned and smirked at Hartley. "If these were all you watched when you were a kid, it's no wonder you ended up gay."

"They're not all musicals." Hartley scowled, though the vast majority of his collection was, indeed, musicals. Those that weren't had at least something to do with music, whether in the plot or it just had great background soundtracks. "And for your information, being gay has nothing to do with musical theater. Just for saying that, turn on Rent." Hartley said testily. He didn't just choose that show to spite Axel, it really was one that he enjoyed, and he hadn't watched it for a while, so why not?

Axel shrugged, took the requested dvd and put it in the player. "I've never even heard of this one before." Axel pushed play and once again made himself comfortable on the floor. Hartley narrowed his eyes at him.

"What are you doing?" Hartley asked.

"Watching the movie." Axel said. He tilted his head back to look at Hartley. "Nobody said that I have to leave." And, once again, Axel had a point. Hartley just hadn't expected him to voluntarily stay and watch a 'gay musical'. Hartley didn't have anything against staying though, so he didn't say anything about it.

Hartley soon regretted that when the first song, one of his favorites in the show, started and Axel immediately began questioning what was going on.

"Why are they just standing there?" Axel asked. "They're not even doing anything. Is the whole show going to be like this?"

"No, it's not." Hartley hissed. "And they're standing on a stage because that's what the creators chose to do, now shut up." Thankfully Axel didn't question the creative choices of the directors any further. Hartley sighed in relief and turned his attention back to the movie.

Apparently Axel couldn't let him watch the movie in peace for very long. The second verse of the song had barely started when Hartley's view of the screen was blocked by Axel offering him a bag of chocolate chips?

"You want some?" Axel asked as he took a handful for himself. Hartley stared at Axel and wondered why...just why?

"Where did you get that?" Hartley asked, though he had a pretty good guess.

Axel shrugged. "From your kitchen." Knew it. Hartley rolled his eyes but did indeed take a handful of chocolate chips, because why not? Satisfied, Axel sat back down and turned his attention back to the movie. He still seemed somewhat bored and confused, though once the next song started he was cured of his boredom and began watching the movie attentively.

Hartley didn't know whether this was because the characters were actually doing something, or if it was because the rock style of music caught Axel's interest. Either way, Hartley wasn't complaining. As long as it kept Axel quiet, Hartley was happy.

The two of them watched the movie in peace, with Axel only occasionally turning around to ask Hartley about something that he didn't understand about the movie. The next few hours passed quickly and before Hartley knew it the movie was over. He used the remote to turn off the tv, made a mental note to remember to put the dvd away later, and stretched.

Hartley looked down at the floor and shook his head fondly when he saw Axel lying there, sound asleep, chocolate chips spilled on the floor near him. He had conked out during the middle of the second act, and Hartley never saw any need to wake him. Even now that the movie was over Hartley decided to just let him sleep. He had other things to occupy him.

Hartley reached a hand back to the side table next to the couch where he kept whatever book he was reading at the moment. He flipped to the page that he was on, found his place and began reading. Hartley figured he might as well take advantage of the peace and quiet now while Axel was still asleep, because he certainly wasn't going to be getting it while he was awake.


A/N: Awkward chapter ending is awkward, but I seriously had no idea how to end it, so I just stopped it wherever. I mean, where am I supposed to stop a chapter that is just two guys hanging out? I'm going to have to figure that out eventually, but not now, because I'm tired and it's getting late.